Future of restoration Options

[sixaddict]

Just saw a piece on Fox News highlighting McPherson (sic) College in Kansas …
Specializing in auto restoration……Wonder if they will accept me (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif) .
You know talent is needed when a major news outlet runs a feature on car restoration.

[Cairo94507]

About 6 years ago a friend took their '60 Cadillac convertible to a prison in Las Vegas to have it restored by the inmates in a highly coveted (for inmates) restoration shop program. You had to apply to get your car accepted, (they did all kinds of cars) and pay some nominal hourly wage, like $10, plus buy parts and materials. They had a waiting list, so I think they were on it for about 2 years to get their car into the shop.

The shop had the car for about 4 years total. I went with them to see the work in progress after they had been on it for about 1 year and was mostly impressed. The shop was run by a civilian employee who had a career in the body shop business.

All of the workers were great to talk with and really loved being in the program as they were learning skills that would translate to body shop jobs, upon their release. BTW, these were all low-risk inmates- not murderers, rapists, robbers, etc.

When I finally saw the car after it was completed, the paint work was excellent and keep in mind, these cars are like 19' long - it was nice and straight. The interior was really well done. The weak link was mechanical - it had a few engine issues- nothing major, the engine was the wrong shade of blue, the AC did not work, but the car ran and drove. The suspension needed a bit more work, but overall the car was nicely done. They even got the new convertible top to work properly.

I am posting this as you never know, someone who has a 914 and wants it restored, might want to give this some consideration and save some money. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)